The Skye’s The Limit: A Final Fantasy XIV Travelogue – 6/24/2019

The Skye’s The Limit

Today’s Grimoire Entry

Mon chere Grimoire,

Mon dieu, is has been a while, has it not?! I have so much to talk about, so much to recount to you! But where to begin…?

Oh, right!

Perhaps, I should talk about our last meeting… after a few… forgettable nights in the Gold Saucer. Before you ask, I got a bit too lost in the moment while celebrating le succès de mon ami. I was approached by a member of the Gold Saucer’s team, who had asked something in our excitement. I wasn’t paying attention, and said “Oui!”

Lesson number one. Never agree to something when you are not listening fully to something. I… ended up volunteering to work as une fille lapin.

Oops.

But it was not so bad! For a few days, I walked the halls of the Gold Saucer, mingling with adventurers, magnates, and even nobles from Ul’dah and beyond. It was… kind of fun! But not something that I would do for a living. Walking in those heels all day hurts far too much. Still, I would be down for a shift from time to time!

When I finally departed, I said my au revoirs to my new friends. Adventure awaited once more… and what an adventure I would find!

I received a call to return to the Waking Sands, where Mademoiselle Minfilia awaited, with Monsieur Papalymo and Mademoiselle Y’da. According to new information, the Twin Adders were sensing a fear of several possible Primals coming forth… with the Ixals’ Garuda and… oh Gods… Ramuh of The Sylphs.

Sadly, it wasn’t the Ixali. I would have to go face the little ones who were a big part of my decision to leave Gridania in the first place. Look… we have never seen eye to eye… and they always chose me as their target for “these ones’ playful times” – so I would wake up to find my room rearranged, or my shoes replaced by ivy plants, or… well… you get the picture. What irony that I would be investigating them for truly nefarious acts.

I heaved a sigh, before excusing myself. “Little Solace?” I asked, sadly. “The very same,” Mademoiselle Minfilia replied, her tone as cheerful as always.

Merde. So much for practicing sylph-care.

Upon touching down in Gridania, I made a quick beat to the Hawthorne Hut, where I caught up with Monsieur Hawthorne, himself… the months have been good to him, though it was clear that things were not right in the Shroud. “I know you don’t get along with ’em,” he said, “but please talk with the Sylphs… they need help.” He gave me something that would, in his words, “smooth the introductions along.” I looked in the parcel… it was milkroot, a delicacy for their kind.

I gave him a small smile, and promised I would do my best. I walked to Little Solace, a small camp nearby, where the Sylphs awaited. “This one will not speak with rude one!” my first Sylph said. My expression sank… visions of that one being engulfed in magical flames began to dance in my head.

Before I could cross that line from hero to villain, though, Y’da and Papalymo rushed in, ready to explain how I should approach these flying piles of kindling. It was simple enough, really… Dance!!

Je n’étais pas impressionné. I gave them a look, before retorting with “If dancing could make them stop turning my cloaks into poison ivy, then I would have done it when I was eight!”

Y’da implored me to try. So I did… I went to every single one of those pests and danced my heart out. “This one knows our greeting!” squealed one. Another cried out “The walking one communicates so well!”

… … … It turns out that all I had to do was dance to make them stop turning my cloaks into poison ivy.

Nom de dieu.

Before I could laugh at the absurdity of this farce I call ma vie, though, the Sylphs said that my introduction was not enough. “Walking one cannot just trust anybody who carries milkroot around!” it cried.

Again, the image of flames flickering could be seen in my vision, as I began to summon the flames of Hell to solve this problem for me. Before I could reduce this camp to ash, though, Papalymo stepped in to offer a less… genocidal solution. “Why not offer your aid? Help them out, so that they can see that you mean no harm?”

I sighed a little, still preferring my option, but I had to agree. Their first task was simple: pest control. Destroy the Ziz Gorlins and Gall Gnats that plagued the camp. Afterwards, it was investigating mysterious hommes in the forest… it turns out that the Gridanians were making dead-drops, using the forest as cover!

Perhaps, perhaps these little beings weren’t so bad, after all. Their final task was to find one of their own… one who had gone missing. I wandered the forest for hours, before finding the little one… Komuxio, I think it was, surrounded by other Sylphs. But those were… different. Violent. They attacked as soon as I stepped within earshot. It was nothing a little fire couldn’t handle,though.

With Komuxio saved, the Sylphs finally opened up to us. One explained that the Elder had gone missing, but… where he went remains a mystery. They implored me to find him. I sighed a little, before giving my best “I’ll try.”

But first… I needed a drink. I hopped on Merveilleux, and made my way to an old haunt: Buscarron’s Druthers. Old Buscarron welcomed me as he always did: with a pint and an open ear. We caught up on old times, and shared a few laughs before a familiar sound of scuffling could be heard outside. It was another drunk fight.

“I’ll get it,” I said, rising up and grabbing the wash tub out back. Like old times, I filled it, then dumped it on the rowdy couple, yelling at them as they scattered. I signed, stomping back in as Buscarron let out a laugh. I looked around, and noticed someone was missing. Where’s Teteroon, the Qiqirn who used to pretty much lived there?

“Aye, he moved away,” Buscarron said, “off to La Noscea.” What would follow was a truly incredible series of events, which would take me to Limsa Lominsa, delivering eggs, then wine, then stopping a literal treasonous double-dealing in the Shroud!

By the end of this run, I had learned that the Sylph Elder was seen entering the Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak!

I had to go get help… gather a party and save him! I had bumped into Monsieur Lucien.

I swear, he has le timing du diable. But… anyway. I explained my situation, and he said to worry not… that he would aid in the search. I let out a heavy sigh of relief before we set out to find two other aventuriers. One stands out in my mind, though: a Dark Knight, whose gruff demeanor and general ill temper seemed to reverberate through the halls of Toto-Rak itself.

He charged forward, barely paying heed to those around him… to his credit, we reached the chamber in record time, where l’homme masqué awaited us. I was paralyzed with fear, as he spoke, his words dripping with ominous intent. As he made his exit, he summoned a great beast, which… well… it… died before we had to fight it.

No, really. It straight-up died! I think l’homme masqué messed up, or something… but… anyway, day saved, happy victory! The Sylph Elder came out of hiding, offering us profuse thanks, before we escaped back to Little Solace. There, he explained that, while Ramuh had touched numerous Sylphs, they would pose no threat, so long as we kept to ourselves.

Quel soulagement!

As I set off, the Sylphs thanked us once more, grateful for our deeds. Perhaps… they weren’t so bad, after all…

~Bonsoir

Today’s Blog Post

So, it’s been a while! I was hoping to write this up sooner, but I had run into some outstanding issues that needed to be addressed.

To be honest, I really wanted to talk a bit about Toto-Rak, which still stands out as one of my most memorable moments in playing Final Fantasy XIV, mainly due to how strange the run was. I was joined on the run by Lucien, as well as a pair of random folks brought in by the Duty Finder. One, our tank, was a Dark Knight, who opened the run with “Ugh… this place” before charging ahead, not letting the healer cast buffs, or the DPS to prep their food and self-buffs. Through it all, he played Last Action Hero, ignoring aggro and leaving the team to generally fend for themselves.

And, for the most part, we made it work! It was a fun time, and the dungeon itself was fairly interesting. Apparently, according to Emily Whitehouse, the dungeon is one of the few remnants of Final Fantasy XIV v1.0, and it’s generally reviled by a healthy set of the community due to its length and layout.

But anyway! By the time we reached the boss battle, I ended up watching the cutscene, as expected. But, well, I thought the game had bugged. I was trapped in the scene, watching the Masked Man talk ominously. All the while, I could hear boss music and the sounds of combat playing in the background. Midway through this lengthy spiel, text began to appear on-screen. “ENEMY’S TAIL DESTROYED!” and so on. I was in disbelief, like… I was straight-up hammering through dialogue to get to the actual battle so I wouldn’t let the team down. But, well… by the time the boss dropped down, the victory jingle was already playing. As soon as I exited the scene, I saw the scene where the boss breathed its last, and our team posed in victory. I just… I laughed my butt off.

After exiting the instance, I started chatting with Lucien, who explained that the tank got impatient ten seconds in, and straight-up ran into the boss battle because he didn’t want to wait for the new players to finish.

Yep – we officially got “that guy.” Please… if you’re playing a dungeon you’ve been in before, don’t be that guy.

Skye Grandeterre is a Duskwight Elezen character played by Samantha Ferreira. She currently resides on the Zalera server on the Crystal Data Center.

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